Beta-Agonists
McGill University researchers warned that regular use of beta-agonists could lull both physicians and patients into believing that asthma is under control when it is in fact worsening and may become life threatening. In a study of 784 people with asthma those who used an inhaler of a beta-agonist every month faced a 2.6 times higher risk of death or of a near-fatal asthma episode than asthma patients who never used an inhaler, they reported in The New England Journal of Medicine.
A patient’s increasing need for beta-agonists should be considered a sign of worsening disease and an indication for anti-inflammatory therapy, researchers concluded.